Managing Cyber Communications Security/Mobile Security
In an era where about 75% of the global population is connected through the internet, cybersecurity is likely the most imperative kind of security people need to be concerned about. As indicated by Yan, Ye, et al. (2012), corporate entities large or small, state agencies, financial institutions as well as numerous individuals who have their personal information stored digitally need to be aware of the possibility of breaches that may leave them vulnerable at any time. As indicated by Linkov and Kott (2018), due to the increased use of the internet and the smartphone a significant amount of sensitive information such as social security numbers to different financial accounts are stored digitally by different organizations (Martin, Martin, et al. 2017). Therefore, the existence of a breach may be far much detrimental today than it was a decade ago. With such prospects, there is a need to understand the management of both communications security and mobile security.
The current global societies are avid users of the smartphone and the internet. Currently, the total number of smartphone users globally is estimated to be about 2.3 billion people. This figure is substantial in itself, however, Richardson and North (2017) state that as of it only constitutes to 36% of the global population. Therefore in actuality, the figure is expected to grow to about 2.5 billion by 2019. The reason for these ballooning figures is the fact that varieties of day-to-day activities including shopping, banking, communication, and entertainment have been digitized for the primary purpose of making things easy. A study by Von Solms and Van Niekerk (2017) conducted in 2016 in three different nations indicated that in general the smartphone and the internet have increased daily routine efficiencies by about 55% over the last decade. Meaning people are finding it easier to bank without visiting the banking hall or shop without enduring the agony of long ques. Nevertheless, all these applications require an individual to disclose significantly sensitive information. For instance, mobile banking requires an individual to register himself or herself using their social security number. In other words, with billions of individuals online there is a plethora of information in the cyberspace that may be vandalized.
The figure above represents the graphical information regarding the number of breaches that have occurred within the U.S cyber space between 2005 and 2018. The information also shows the amount of records exposed or misused in the events of the breaches. The data highlighted shows as link between cyber space breach and social vulnerabilities a factor that has led to the analysis of communications and mobile security.
In the 1970s there was an increase in phone hacking also called phreaking, which was process were individuals were able to create digital loopholes on the phone system to connect to free calls. As indicated by Munshi, Dell, an Armstrong, (2012) phreaking was initially developed by an individual called John Draper and later adopted by hundreds of IT savvy phreakers. Draper found out that by manipulating the phone system using 2600-hertz tones he was able to connect to different free services on the telephone. He learnt that a device known as a “blue box”, could access the AT&T long distance system as well make free long distance calls (Dash, 1999) . His invention later earned him the name Captain Crunch and soon other likeminded hackers soon discovered various ways to alter the telephonic system. It was at this point that hackers began accessing the networks with variety of blue boxes and succeeded to evade the meager security of the nation’s phone networks as well as radio systems (Berg, 1998). Consequently, AT&T as well as other provider were subjected to unbelievable amount of telephone fraud costing thousands of dollars.
Communication security is described as the process of tracking, recording or storing, and analysis of material by a communication service provider. One aspect about the cyber space is that it is open to any individual. This has led to extensive radicalization, which has led to increased terrorism. According to the Okhravi, Streilein, and Bauer (2015), terror groups such as ISIS have extensive used the internet to spread propaganda massages. Communication service security has aided in locating and identifying major suspects within developed locations who may be operatives for such organizations. According to Von Solms and Van Niekerk (2013), cyber communication scrutiny has been for a while criticized as a breach of privacy. Nevertheless, the current systems are known to track particular key words and phrases before identifying a person of interest.
As aforementioned the cyber space is significantly open or wit limited restrictions which may be device related. Due to the advent, use of smartphones within the cyber space there have been cases reported where an individual committed a cybercrime such as identity theft from a healthcare database using a phone. Most protection mechanisms are placed to detect other computerized devices such as laptops or desktops. Mobile security allows the authorities to trace, track and monitor mobile phone activity through either internet providers or the phone manufacturers themselves. In an age of wide spread digitation of material there is a need for increased cyber security measures placed on communications as well as mobile devices. In the instance that another John Draper case the values as well as amount of damage caused due to a breach may cost not only billions of dollars but peoples livelihoods.
References
Berg, G. (1998) MCSE Networking essentials
Dash, T. (1999) Network Primer. The AT & T Foundation
Linkov, I., & Kott, A. (2018). Fundamental concepts of cyber resilience: Introduction and Overview. In Cyber Resilience of Systems and Networks (pp. 1-25). Springer, Cham.
Martin, G., Martin, P., Hankin, C., Darzi, A., & Kinross, J. (2017). Cybersecurity and healthcare: How safe are we?. Bmj, 358, j3179.
Munshi, A., Dell, P., & Armstrong, H. (2012, January). Insider threat behavior factors: A comparison of theory with reported incidents. In System Science (HICSS), 2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 2402-2411). IEEE.
Okhravi, H., Streilein, W. W., & Bauer, K. S. (2015). Moving target techniques: Leveraging uncertainty for cyber defense. MIT Lincoln Laboratory Lexington United States.
Richardson, R., & North, M. (2017). Ransomware: Evolution, mitigation and prevention. International Management Review, 13 (1), 10-21.
Von Solms, R., & Van Niekerk, J. (2013). From information security to cyber security. computers & security, 38, 97-102.
Yan, Y., Qian, Y., Sharif, H., & Tipper, D. (2012). A survey on cyber security for smart grid communications. IEEE Communications Surveys and tutorials, 14(4), 998-1010.